


Love Is a Four-Letter-Word

by imkerfuffled



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Could be gen could be slash who knows, M/M, rated for brief language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 22:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3827215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imkerfuffled/pseuds/imkerfuffled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“He’s clever. Cleverer than he lets on sometimes,” he continued, still trying to draw a reaction from Gao, “He notices every tiny little thing that happens, and if you and me can see how distracted the big guy is, you can bet your ass he’s seen it too. Right?”</i>
</p><p>Leland tries to puzzle his mind around the enigma that is James Wesley, and Gao thinks it's funny.</p><p>Spoilers for later episodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is a Four-Letter-Word

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Любовь - слово из шести букв](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5612788) by [leoriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leoriel/pseuds/leoriel)



> Disclaimer: any racist language in here is entirely due to Owlsley's pov. Trust me, I was mentally cringing when I wrote some of this.

“I don’t get it,” Leland snapped during one of their secret rooftop meetings, “Why the hell isn’t Wesley against this? He’s not stupid; he can see what she’s doing to Fisk.” 

He turned to look pointedly at Madame Gao, clearly expecting her to spew more of her ‘fortune cookie logic,’ as he called it. But she stayed silent and continued staring out over the edge off the roof, her hands clasped around the top of her cane, with an infuriatingly serene smile ghosting her face. 

“He’s clever. Cleverer than he lets on sometimes,” he continued, still trying to draw a reaction from Gao, “He notices every tiny little thing that happens, and if you and me can see how distracted the big guy is, you can bet your ass he’s seen it too. Right?” 

Madame Gao gave no indication of hearing him, despite the fact that he was less than three feet away and practically shouting in her ear. Leland shot a disgruntled look over his shoulder at her translator, a burly Chinese man lounging against the wall of the stairwell. He too did not acknowledge Leland, though Leland figured that was because he couldn’t see him. 

After grumbling unintelligibly under his breath for a moment, he spoke up again, refusing to let the subject drop. “Me and Wesley agree on a hell of a lot of things,” he said, “I say, ‘don’t shack up with the freaky ninjas, Fisk;’ he says ‘don’t shack up with the freaky ninjas, Fisk.’ And now, he’s completely ignoring how this whole damn organization is going to hell in a hand basket, all because Fisk couldn’t keep it in his pants. I mean, besides me obviously, there’s not a man in the goddamn business who cares more about the bottom line than Wesley. So why the hell isn’t he raising a stink about this?” 

This time Gao responded, giving a quiet laugh and turning her head towards Leland. She patted him on the arm, like one would a particularly adorable toddler, and said something in Chinese. Leland scowled as he glanced back at the translator. 

“She says you use too many idioms,” the translator said. 

“Fuck off,” Leland muttered, though whether he said it to the translator or Madame Gao he wasn’t sure. The smile flickered on her face for a moment, and be decided better than to push his luck again. He sighed irritably, trying to gauge whether or not it was worth it to keep talking. 

“It can’t just be loyalty, can it?” he asked eventually, quieter now, “He’s completely whipped, yeah, but even he speaks up if he thinks Fisk is making a bad decision. You know, privately of course, but he still does it. He’s not… blindly loyal. Why isn’t he here?” 

Madame Gao glanced slowly at him from the corner of her eyes, her mysterious smile back in full force. She tilted her head from side to side as if deliberating what to say, and then she spoke. 

“Wesley is not here for the same reason we are,” her translator repeated in English. 

“The hell?” scoffed Leland, mentally cursing Gao’s mystic way of speaking, “What’s that supposed to mean… He _wants_ Fisk to crash and burn?” 

The tiny old lady laughed, throwing her head back and giggling in a way that was thoroughly unsettling to Leland. Involuntarily, he leaned away from her, but she placed her hand on his arm again and said, firmly, in English, “Love.” 

Leland pulled a face. “Are you trying to say Wesley’s—what, he’s in love with Fisk? Oh god, that sounds ridiculous just saying it out loud,” he muttered, “Hell, I figured he was gay, but… Fisk?” 

Gao only smiled wider and said, in Mandarin this time, “There are many different types of love, Leland.” 

“And which one is this?” Leland asked the moment her translator finished speaking. 

Again, she deliberated for a moment. “Selfless,” she said finally with a slight shrug. 

“Selfless?” Leland gave a bark of laughter, “Wesley, selfless? Ha, that’ll be the day!” 

Gao raised an eyebrow in his direction and started speaking again. 

“You have known Wesley for just as long as I have,” interpreted her translator, “And yet you have not noticed that his main goal is never to do as Mr. Fisk says, but to ensure he is happy. Perhaps you are not as perceptive as you claim to be, Leland.” 

Leland harrumphed at her accusation, but didn’t rise to the bait. Eventually, he sighed and leaned his elbows on the ledge at the edge of the roof, squinting out at the smog-filled skyline. “Does that mean,” he said hesitantly, reluctant to hear the answer, “Does that mean we’d have to take out Wesley too?” 

“No,” Madame Gao said through her translator, and Leland couldn’t help his tiny sigh of relief when she said it, “No, I think not. Again, there are many different types of love, and in the end… Wesley’s only has Wilson Fisk’s best interests at heart.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did I just write another fic about a pair who doesn't even appear in the story? Oops, yes I did.


End file.
